Can you spot which of these emails is real, and which is a scam?

This one nearly made me click!  Have a close look at these emails (click to enlarge) and see if you can spot the differences - the things that indicate that one is a fake.

Having only recently received a real email from ASIC about the renewal of the iTandCoffee business name, I really had to look twice (and three times) at the 'same' email that I received this week.

Given that I have registered two business names, my initial reaction was to believe that the email was real.  Can you tell which one is real?

Working out which is legitimate

But, as I always do with any email before clicking on any links or opening/downloading any files, I had a look at who the email was from (by clicking on the email address) - and it was definitely not ASIC.

The address attempted to look like an ASIC address - [email protected] - so could easily catch out many people.

Another giveaway was that there was no mention of my name, or business name in the email - it seemed very generic.

I also used the 'Quick Look' feature in my Mac Mail to preview the web page associated with the 'Pay now' link. (Hover to the right of the link and click the 'down-arrow'. You can also just hover the mouse over the link to see what website it links to. On the iPad or iPhone, hold your finger on the link to see a screen that shows the link's website address at the top.)

And boy, did the preview look authentic.  But the giveaway was that the website shown at the top (see the red arrow above) was NOT ASIC.  

What would have happened if I 'clicked'?

In fact, the 'Pay now' link did actually 'redirect' to the real ASIC website (after first taking me to the eoaclk.com website).  Obviously the scammers want you be believe they are ASIC, so that you will click the 'renewal notice' link a bit further down.

Clicking the 'renewal notice' link would have downloaded malware, a virus, or even ransomware - so I dared not click it on my Mac to find out which!  (I could see on my iPhone that this link would have downloaded a ZIP file to the computer - I'm sure containing all sorts of 'nasties'.)

Here is the article on the ASIC website, describing this scam.

Be alert to scam emails like this. Always be sure the sender is legitimate before clicking any link or downloading/opening any file in an email.

Do you need further help?

We have a free video that demonstrates how to detect a fake email - here is the link:

• How to detect a Scam email

If you need further help in assessing whether an email is real or a fake, you can forward the email to iTandCoffee (at [email protected]) and we will check it for you to let you know if it is safe.

If you are looking to learn more about your Mac, why not attend our great class series, called 'Getting to know your Mac' - check out the dates below.

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